Chinese fiction
My beach reading this month drew me toward a Tom Clancy novel, The Bear and the Dragon, one of those impossibly sweeping books that cuts between the president, a spy, a Russian cop and some Chinese honchos.
Thinking this would be another potboiler with only the slightest connection to reality, I settled in. But to my surprise, this five-year-old book had plenty to say about some of the trade issues that affect us here in the Piedmont Triad. Sort of.
It imagines a diabolical mission behind China's growing influence on international trade. And it depicts those Chinese honchos scheming over trade policy.
It seems that under this scenario, China is determined to make excellent products and sell them cheaply to the United States and other nations to build up its coffers with strong dollars. And essentially, that's what they're doing in reality.
But according to the dialog in the book, the honchos plan to use the riches drawn from international trade to build up an army and thousands of tanks. The goal? Only world domination.
So the next time you read about problems with Chinese furniture or apparel imports, keep in mind that some with big imaginations see a bleaker purpose behind those shipments.